After reading and commenting on Battlestriker123's blog on "Nintendo Side-Characters that Need Their Own Games!", I decided to write a blog on what I think would be an awesome game for Princess Zelda. After all, aside from Samus Aran, as far as Nintendo female protagonists go, Zelda has to be the most adventurous and daring, depending on which game you're playing of course. So this little write up here is going to sort of jab at a number of things I was thinking of, and really, I just can't get the idea out of my mind. I wanted to know when this would take place in the questionable Zelda timeline [I say questionable due to the complaints on "defeated hero" path]. I've also been thinking about bringing in other characters, and who or what would make a great antagonist. But, one thing at a time.

The Premise

The plot I had in mind was written up in the latter hours of the night, but it still holds true I suppose, that the game idea I had in mind [though I don't really have a longing desire to go off and beg Shigeru Miyamoto to make it], is supposed to tell the story of how Princess Zelda ascends from Princess to Queen, and in fact launches Hyrule into a golden era. The story follows the opening to A Link to the Past, that talks about men aggressively seeking the Golden Power. I expanded that opening sequence to armies invading Hyrule, as Hyrule is the kingdom that protects the Triforce. Taking on a hybrid of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past, the Kingdom of Hyrule is on the brink of war from outside forces. Very similar to how the King was played in OoT, the political scene in Hyrule is an inept one. The king refuses to see the pending war as a threat, and begins to deny rumors that the other races [such as Zoras in the river lands, Gorons in the montains, and so on], are being pushed out of their lands as soldiers from other nations are seeking to other throw Hyrule and take the Triforce for themselves. The Princess Zelda, who is naturally wise and cunning, can see that something wrong is transpiring, but her voice in the kingdom's court is often silenced and not regarded.

Knowing in her heart that her father is not an evil man, but is being corrupted by dark forces, Zelda requests the aid of her mentor Impa, and occasionally her stalwart, childhood friend, and member of the royal guard, Link, for help. Being trained in the ways of the Sheikah, as well as being an adept magic user, Zelda uses her powers to manipulate the war from the inside out, ala Assassin's Creed style. After a few twists and turns in the story, Zelda, Link, and the proposed antagonist of the story, either a general from an opposing army, or even the second known Gerudo King [anyone but Gannon or Ganondorf]. Or I was thinking of doing something a bit out there, and propose that it is Agahnim, or a predecessor or a descendant of Agahnim, the powerful wizard who corrupted Hyrule in A Link to the Past. Regardless, it turns into a three way battle, with Zelda obtaining the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link with courage, and this antagonist character having the power.

The end would be Zelda's coronation ceremony, and possibly marrying Link. Hyrule castle is destroyed in the final battle, and so Queen Zelda relocates the capital, signalling a new era for Hyrule, and becomes the most powerful ruler in the kingdom's history.

The Setting

So even after knowing what the game is about in general, I still wasn't sure where I wanted to put it. I of course wanted to base the game off of the map in OoT, because I thought that involving the Gerudo, Zora, Goron, and Kokiri people, and add them to the political scene. But even after establishing the setting, I didn't know exactly when this would fit into the timeline. Of course, I looked up the timeline, and watched some videos about it, but it didn't really help me make up my mind. Naturally, I'd love to have it happen after Ocarina of Time, and before a Link's to the Past, further setting up the events that would inevitably occur. It would make sense that if Gannon was sealed away in OoT, that he wouldn't appear again into A Link to the Past. And if Agahnim is Gannon's "avatar", it makes sense that he would have visited the Dark World before ALttP happens. Then again, I am a bit shaky on the lore, and was considering the size and scope of Hyrule as the games portray it. In thinking about that, I thought of putting it way after all the other games, and have it more set in a renaissance inspired era. If Hyrule is a kingdom, it should have more villages and towns! I imagine there being a settlement at Lake Hylia, and really, on the outskirts of every major region from OoT. This would also mean that the map would be much larger, to accommodate more towns, and still have room for dungeons.

I would have to want dungeons built into the over world. Imagine all the material they'd have to work with! Not only could you throw in aged versions of every OoT dungeon, if you said "screw the timeline, let's just put a bunch of time between us so that obvious and drastic terrain changes can be explained", you could even add in ALttP dungeons in certain regions. Since the game would be open world for the most part, I think it would be just fantastic to expand the regions and make them deep and dark and filled with all kinds of Zelda lore. It would be like Skyrim, but instead of finding randomly generated caves that might mean something but usually not really... you'd find all kinds of interesting and story enhancing tidbits! Bigger isn't always better, but if you ask me, a massive, explorable Zelda world would be amazing.

Gameplay

Maybe the most important thing about any game, would be the gameplay. What I had in mind would be a third person, behind the shoulder style, just like any regular Zelda game would have. I imagine the game being "mission" based, where you'd have to complete a certain task in a certain place, but the twist I would throw onto that is, you can do the missions a number of ways, letting the player decide how to use Zelda. You can go stealth as Sheik, or you could use your magic and position as princess to slowly gain political power. The game wouldn't be just sneaking around and killing generals of armies, or soldiers like in Assassin's Creed. It would have a number of fun tasks, maybe like eating dinner with a Hylian noble, or finding dirt on someone who is trying to profit off of war. I wouldn't want the typical Zelda style to fit in, where you go into dungeons, collect items, and then use those items to advance your quest. In that sense, it might turn out to be slightly RPG-like, where you can train yourself to be better at skills, and follow a tree or sorts. Things like getting better at Sheik's ninja-like style, letting you sneak around easier, or throw more darts.

I think that games with multiple endings is nice, but only if they don't trick you at every turn into getting a bad endings or a lackluster ending. As much as I love Cave Story, the method to getting the best ending is almost impossible for new players to get without looking it up first. But for this game idea, given that I wouldn't want to put in dungeons if they didn't serve a purpose, I would have a special ending if the player completed all the major dungeons before beating the final boss. I'd want to throw in a lot of content, but not overwhelmingly so. Things like mask collecting that was in Majora's mask, or that delivery quest in Ocarina of Time in order to get the Biggoron Sword. I'd also think it would be cool to have two styles the player can end the game with. You can either have it so you can fight the final boss over and over again and still catch other extra dungeons [allowing people to get better endings], or you can save after the final boss, still visit dungeons, but also parttake in the rebuilding of Hyrule by investing currency into projecs. [Because I'm a sucker for building cities and upgrading them...sort of like Luin in Tales of Symphonia].

The combat of course would be in the style of Zelda. Of course combat changes depending on whether you are Zelda or Sheik. By that, I expect the replay value on such a game to be extraordinary!

Other Stylistic Choices

This is more or less a personal section for me, that I am sure many people would disagree with but I'm going to say it anyway. This game would be in HD, and it would basically feature graphics similar to the Zelda WiiU demo we saw back a few years ago was it? Anyways, I don't think a game like this would benefit from previously used Zelda titles, with the exception of TP, but even that isn't exactly what I would expect here. It isn't a traditional Legend of Zelda experience, so I wouldn't want it to be styled the same way. I go more for realism in this particular case, and I'd prefer Hyrule to appear as an actual place, blurring the lines of fantasy and reality. I understand the charm most Zelda games have, and I have enjoyed them immensely myself. Ocarina of Time is perfect just the way it is. So it isn't that I'd want the Zelda series as a whole to change drastically, this is just more so what I had in mind. Now with that disclaimer, here's the big one. This game would definitely be voice acted. I can't say I'm an expert on who would be the best voices for the characters, but there are many good ones. If I were in production for this game, I would make it a point to have the funding for great voices. Obviously, the voice work of Yuri Lowenthal, Johnny Yong Bosch, both do excellent jobs in almost anything they do. I could see both of them playing Link in this case. I also like the work of Kate Higgins and Tara Strong, although they both seem to have incredible range, [as many voice actors do]. Even though Zelda is a series that is very successful at providing deep emotions without the use of wordplay... since the game I've envisioned here requires a lot more dialogue [potentially anyway], it'd be nice to have it voiced.

Of course, it would be nice to add a lot of things into a game like that. Every game would want to be the best so it is more or less wishful thinking. I imagine given all this, many fans of the Legend of Zelda wouldn't exactly like it, but it would still be a great game if it was done right.

Well that's all. Feel free to comment, and propose your own ideas if you want.